Hybridfest 2008 Report

[sparkyAZ]

A tour of the Saft factory next year would be awesome! I spent a while at the show talking with their Senior Electrochemist, Ron Miles. They have some promising LiIon cells in the works - hopefully they'll sell them to end user customers not just OEM's, or develop their own PHEV conversion.

This year I went to HF on short notice, but next year I'm going to plan to take a few extra days and visit some friends near Chicago so may make it a week long trip. I was busy all 3 days of the show but if we could get a carpool group together either on Thursday or Monday to see Saft that would be great. Maybe next year one of the Madison locals can also put together a half-day tour of the city and we could have a sightseeing Prius caravan!

[ericbecky]

I am happy to set stuff up if people are willing to be there. Don't want to have a party with only me!

Hobbit, I wish I would have known ahead of time that you planned on hanging around Madison, I could have set you up with plenty of things. Unfortunately I ended up bailing out of town on Tuesday early morning to head for California otherwise I could have taken you around, too.

The SAFT building is a very cool place. You guys would really get a kick out of it.

Plus there are plenty of things to do around Madison. Keep the discussion going.

[sparkyAZ]

Originally Posted by ericbecky

I am happy to set stuff up if people are willing to be there. Don't want to have a party with only me!

The SAFT building is a very cool place. You guys would really get a kick out of it.

Plus there are plenty of things to do around Madison. Keep the discussion going.

If you could set this up, I don't think you would be alone! I'd definitely want to be part of a tour. It would probably have to be a weekday (Thursday or Monday) to see things in operation while their plant is running. It would be great to show SAFT how much interest there is in PHEV conversions and get them on board with the enthusiast/DIY community. They already did the FEH conversion they had at the show - next year I want to see them at HF with a converted Prius. If I'm going to spend a big chunk of $$ on a PHEV conversion I'd rather purchase from a battery manufacturer that is based in the US rather than China.

As far as sightseeing around Madison, I wish I had more time to see Minona Terrace and maybe take in a Michael Feldman Wadd'ya Know? show - only problem is the time conflict with HF! Maybe next year...the weekend went by so fast as it was.